Device for moving the lay of mechanical weaving looms



March 17, 1936. o. WITTMERS DEVICE FOR MOVING THE LAY OF MECHANICAL WEAVING LOOMS Filed Oct. 17, 1934 Patented Mar. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Otto Wittmers, Cologne-on-the-Rhine, Germany Application October 17, 1934, Serial No. 748,670 In Germany October 19, 1933 8 Claims.

Devices for moving the lays of mechanical weaving looms are known, in which the lay sword bearing the shuttle race and the abutment reed carries at its upper end a double-armed lever which is hinged to it and has two arms of unequal length forming between them an obtuse angle open in the direction towards the driving shaft.

The upper arm of that two-armed lever which 10 is the shorter one is joined to the pivot of the crank of the driving shaft by the intermediary of a connecting rod, whereas to the end of the longer arm of said lever is hinged the rod of an eccentric ring, the disk of which is secured to the driving shaft.

The object of this known arrangement and combination of parts is to drive the shuttle through the shed with a reduced resistance to motion and to obtain thereby an increase in the number of revolutions of the driving shaft and, therefore, also an increase in the performance of the weaving loom.

Building this device into existing looms is often connected with difficulties. Many looms lack the rotatory surfaces for the attachment of such an eccentric disk (in the following part of this specification termed control eccentric disk) on the driving shaft.

For the above-mentioned reason I propose to 38 utilize, as is done in the present invention, the

crank pivot of the driving shaft as bearing member for two hinges or joints, that is to say, to use said pivot as support for that end of the connecting rod which is hinged to the shorter 35 arm of the two-armed lever of the lay sword, as

well as support for the eccentric disk of the control eccentric.

This idea of invention can practically be easily realized in this way that the eccentric disk is 40 made multi-parted, at least two-parted, and is provided with a sleeve-like lateral extension which is placed upon the crank-pin of the driving shaft and serves as a rotary bearing for the connecting rod that is hinged to the shorter arm of 45 the double-lever, this arm being, in turn, hinged to the lay sword.

It is possible to make the circumferential outer surface of said sleeve-like extension eccentric in such a degree as may be desired or required,

50 whereby the further possibility is presented of regulating the extent of the angular motion of the said double-lever whereby the stroke of the lay can be increased or decreased, as may be necessary. Besides, owing to the smallness of the 55 space required, the arrangement also permits providing such weaving looms therewith in which there is located below the crank shaft a transverse bar that would normally prevent the attachment of a separate control eccentric.

Finally, the twofold utilization of the sup- 5" porting place for the joints of the connecting rod and of the control eccentric permits also a better and more effective arrangement of means serving to obviate the necessity of reducing too strongly the speed of the moving mass of the lay 10' towards the end of its motion, whereby, if the braking surpasses a certain normal limit, parts of the loom are likely to be destroyed. As now the disk of the control eccentric is arranged laterally from one of the crank legs of the driv- 15- ing shaft, the joint between the eccentric rod and the longer arm of the double-lever of the lay sword permits one to render the shape of said joint variable, in such a manner, that in the case of the braking power exceeding a certain normal 20 measure the momentum can be annihilated in the moving mass on a long braking path.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side-view of the 25 known lay drive shown for the purpose of comparison between what is old and what is new. Figure 2 is a side-view of an eccentric disk designed according to this invention, in combination with some other parts, the eccentric ring being omitted, and the disk being located upon the crank pivot of the driving shaft. Figure 3 is a transverse section in the plane II of Fig. 2. Figure 4 is a side-view of the entire arrangement and combination of the parts constituting my invention. Figure 5 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 4. Figure 5 is a transverse section in the plane III-III of Fig. 4, the parts shown in the left-hand half of Fig. 4 being omitted, and one of the parts (the sleeve lefthand from the eccentric disk) being slightly modified. Figure 5 shows a modification of the arrangement and combination of parts shown in the lowermost portion of Fig. 4. Figure 6 is a modification of the arrangement and combination of parts shown in the left-hand portion of Fig. 4. Figure 7 is a front-view of this modification, seen in the direction from the right to the left in Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 shows another modification drawn to a reduced scale.

In the drawing, 4 (Figs. 1, 4 and 5) denotes one of the lay swords, and 6, 1 (Figs. 1 and 4) denotes a bell-crank lever comprising a shorter arm 6 and a longer arm 1. This lever is hinged at 5 to the lay sword, and the lever arm 6 is is jointed at 8 to one end of the connecting rod Hi. This arrangement and combination of parts exists at each lay sword. Only one is shown in the drawing.

In the improved device illustrated in Figs. 2-5 the other end (Hi Fig. 4) of the connecting rod l0 embraces a sleeve-like projection of the eccentric disk M, M which is two-parted, comprising a larger part i4 and a smaller part [4 and is located upon the pivot I2 of the crank l3 of the shaft l5, as is seen best in Fig. l8 (Fig. 4) denotes the plane in which the two parts of the eccentric disk abut against one another, and this plane extends through the axis of the pivot l2. Where the parts It and M contact with one another, there they are provided with lugs 20 that are firmly connected with one another by nut bolts, whereby, of course, also the two parts of the eccentric disk are securely connected with one another. The eccentric disk is integral with the sleeve i8 wherefrom follows that also this sleeve is two-parted, the one part being integral with the disk-part l4 and the other part being integral with. the disk-part Hi The free end of the sleeve 18 has rim or fiange I 8 (Figs. 3 and 5 likewise, of course, bipartite.

The eccentric disk M, Hi is surrounded with the ring I l which has at its inner circumference a groove that is engaged by an annular projection of the outer circumference of the disk. In

" l9 (Fig. 4).

view of this coupling of the eccentric disk with the appertaining ring it is a matter of course that also said ring is two-parted; the two parts are connected with one another by screw-bolts From the lower half of the said ring extends a slotted arm H which will be dealt with hereinafter.

In order to prevent turning of the eccentric upon the crank pivot I2, lugs 22 (Fig. 4) are provided which extend from that face of the disk portion l4 that is located counter to the sleeve l8 and hold each a bolt 23 which abut at one side of the crank 53.

The free end of the arm 5 i which projects forth from the eccentric ring H has an oblong slot 25 (Fig. 4) through which extends a bolt 9. The arm I I crosses the longer arm 'I of the bell-crank lever 6, i; said lever-arm has a slot l in which slides a block 32 (Fig. 5). The bolt 9 extends also through this block and is between the arms I and i i provided with a spacing disk 9* (Fig. 5) which maintains the proper distance between said arms. Both ends of the bolt 9 are threaded; the one thread engages a correspondingly threaded bore in the block 32 and the other thread is provided with a nut 3! (Fig. 5). It will be obvious that the block 32 can be adjusted in the slot of the lever-arm 'l' and that the bolt 9 can be shifted in the slot of the arm I! of the eccentric and that, therefore, the arms I and II can be adjusted with respect to one another and can be connected with one another in their adjusted position. By shifting the block 32 in the lever-arm i, the effective length of this arm can be varied and by displacing the bolt 9 in the arm I! the stroke of the eccentric disk, as well as the angle between the crank i3 and the eccentric disk can likewise be varied.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the block 36 is located in the slot 25 of the arm H and shiftable in this slot whereas there is no slot in the arm l At the free end of the arm H is an adjusting bolt 21, in the block 36 is a bolt 26, and between this bolt and the bolt 21 is a helical tensile spring 28. The particular effect of this modified arrangement and combination of parts is that it prevents, in the case of a greatly increased number of revolutions of the shaft IS, an excessive influence of the moving masses when the lay is moved into the fell of the cloth. The length of the braking path in which the force acting in the reciprocating lay, in the normal construction of the same/is to be depleted is very short, in that it amounts generally only to about from 5 to 7 mm. If in a loom provided with the device shown in Fig. 5 the number of revolutions is increased, the superfluous force of the moved mass is intercepted by the spring 28, which constitutes a safety member, in that the surplus of energy is consumed.

A link motion that comprises a slotted member and a block therein, as in Figs. 4 and 5 requires, of course, oiling. This can be obviated if, as in the further modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the bell-crank lever 6?, l co-operates with a one-armed lever 1 supported on the pivot 5 of the lever B, 1. There is likewise a helical tensile spring 28 as in Fig. 5 and there is also an adjusting bolt 2'! for the same, but this bolt is located in the free end 'l of the lever 1..and the upper end of said spring is attached to the lever arm l with which it is connected by a pin 26 At the upper end of the lever 1, laterally from the pivot 5 is a lateral projection li which is located between the arms of the bell-crank lever 6 l without normally being in contact with either of them, in that this is prevented by the spring 28 But if the force acting in the moving lay should become overnormally strong, the spring 28 will be expanded until the arm l of the bell-crank lever contacts with the projection i of the lever 1. The surplus of the force in question is, thus, intercepted and annihilated by the spring 28, so that a destruction of the loom parts concerned is prevented. H

Referring, finally, to the modification shown in Fig. 8, the position and the shape of the bellcrank lever 6, 1 differs from the position and the shape of the bell-crank lever B, I in Fig. 6, in that its arm 6 extends laterally instead of upwardly and its arm 1 extends downwardly instead of laterally. The auxiliary lever 1 is in this modification supported not upon the same pivot on which the bell-crank lever 6, 1 is supported, as is the case in Fig. 6, but it is supported upon a separate pivot 5 provided upon the arm 1 of the bell-crank lever. Laterally from this pivot (left-hand from itin Fig. 8) the lever-arm 1 is provided with a pivot-like projection l which is in contact with the middle portionof a plate spring 28 consisting preferably of a plurality of lamellae. The upper end of this spring bears against a face 6 of the lever-arm 6, and the lower end of said spring engages a recess I provided in the lower end of the auxiliary lever 1. On the right-hand side of this lever-arm is another recess l engaged by the lower end of another plate-spring 28* likewise composed preferably of a plurality of lamellae. The middle portion of this spring contacts with the head-portion I of the lever 1.

The body-portions of the levers 6, I and 1 are shown in section.

8 denotes the boltconnecting the lever-arm 6 with the connecting rod H) of Fig. 4, and 9 denotes the bolt connecting the auxiliary lever 1 with the arm ll of the eccentric, likewise as in Fig. 4.

As longas the forces acting upon the leverarms 6, 1 and 1 do not surpass a certain normal strength, they are and remain in the position shown in Fig. 8, in which position the spring 28* is kept under a certain preliminary tension by means of the head-portion l of the lever 1. When, however, the forces acting upon the said levers surpass that certain normal strength, their position relatively to one another changes, in that the lever 1 is turned on the pivot in consequence whereof the head T of the lever 1 bends the spring 2% more so as to increase its tension; at the same time also the spring 28 is bent more whereby the tension also of this spring is increased and the forces to be annihilated are annihilated very effectively without any considerable change of the position of the memb rs described.

I claim:

1. In a mechanical weaving loom having a laymoving device provided with a pair of bell-crank levers, each of which is attached to one of the lay swords and has arms of unequal length forming an obtuse angle open towards the shaft of the loom, in combination with the above-mentioned members, a crank in the loom shaft and a crankpin forming part of said crank, a two-parted sleeve on said pin and a two-parted eccentric, the halves of which are connected with the halves of said sleeve, the plane of division. extending longitudinally through the said crank-pin; a link connecting the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever with said sleeve, and another link connecting the longer arm of said lever with the ring forming part of said eccentric.

2. In a mechanical weaving loom having a laymoving device provided with a pair of bell-crank levers, each of which is attached to one of the lay swords and has arms of unequal length forming an obtuse angle open towards the shaft of the loom, in combination with the above-mentioned members, a crank in the loom-shaft and a crankpin forming part of said crank, a two-parted sleeve on said pin and a two-parted eccentric, the halves of which are connected with the halves of said sleeve, the plane of division extending longitudinally through the said crank-pin; an arm extending from the ring pertaining to said eccentric, a link connecting the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever with said sleeve, and another link connecting the longer arm of the said lever with the arm extending from said ring; means connecting said longer lever arm and the arm pertaining to said eccentric with one another and being so designed as to permit adjustment of these arms relatively to one another.

3. In a mechanical weaving loom as specified in claim 2, a helical tensile spring inserted into, and forming part of, the means connecting the longer arm of the bell-crank lever and the arm of the eccentric ring with one another.

4. In a mechanical weaving loom as specified in claim 2, a helical tensile spring inserted into, and forming part of, the means connecting the longer arm of the bell-crank lever and the arm of the eccentric ring with one another and being so arranged as to be adapted to give way and be expanded when the power transmitted from the one of said arms to the other thereof exceeds a certain maximum as determined by the resistance of said spring.

5. In a mechanical weaving loom having a lay-moving device provided with a pair of bellcrank levers, each of which is attached to one of the lay swords and has arms of unequal length forming an obtuse angle open towards the shaft of the loom, in combination with the above-mentioned members, a one-armed lever supported coaxially with the bell-crank lever, extending downwardly to below the longer arm of the same and having a lateral pin located between the arms of the bell-crank lever, and a helical tensile spring connected at one end with the longer arm of the bell-crank lever and at the other end with the free end of said one-armed lever; a crank in the loom shaft and a crank-pin forming part of said crank; a two-parted sleeve on said crank-pin and a two-parted eccentric, the halves of which are connected with the halves of said sleeve, the plane of division extending longitudinally through the said crank-pin; an arm extending from the ring of said eccentric, a link connecting this arm with said one-armed lever at a place located below the longer arm of the bell-crank lever, and a link connecting the shorter arm of this lever with said sleeve.

6. In a mechanical weaving loom having a laymoving device provided with a pair of bell-crank levers, each of which is attached to one of the lay swords and has arms of unequal length forming an obtuse angle open towards the shaft of the loom, in combination with the above-mentioned members, a. crank in the loom shaft and a crankpin forming part of said crank, a two-parted sleeve on said pin and a two-parted eccentric, the halves of which are connected with the halves of said sleeve, the plane of division extending longitudinally through the said crank-pin; a link connecting the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever with said sleeve, a downwardly extending arm hinged to the downwardly directed longer arm of the said bell-crank lever, and a spring or springs holding the last-mentioned two arms in a certain normal position with respect to one another and permitting the lowermost of them to yield elastically, and another link connecting said lowermost arm with the ring forming part of the said eccentric.

'7. In a device as specified in claim 2, in combi nation with the bell-crank lever, two laterally spaced pivots on its longer arm, a one-armed lever supported on one of said pivots, two platesprings located the one at the front edge, the other at the rear edge of said one-armed lever, the first-mentioned spring bearing with its middle portion on the head-portion of the one-armed lever and with its ends on the middle portion of the same and the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever, and the other spring bearing with its middle portion on the other pivot and with its ends on the longer arm of the bell-crank lever and on the lower portion of the said one-armed lever.

8. In a device as specified in claim 2, in combination with the bell-crank lever, two laterally spaced pivots on its longer arm, a one-armed lever supported on one of said pivots, two platesprings located the one at the fron -edge, the other at the rear edge of said one-armed lever, the first-mentioned spring bearing with its middle portion on the head-portion of the one-armed lever and engaging with its lower end a recess of the same and with its upper end a recess of the shorter arm of the bell-crank lever, and the other spring passing through between said two pivots and bearing with its middle portion on one of the same and with its ends on the longer arm of the bell-crank lever and on the lowermost portion of the said one-armed lever.

OTTO WITTMERS. 

